Photo Print Quality - Seems like a "painting"

[nhrand]

What is it about modern photography that makes some photos appear to be paintings?  Here are two examples from Trains showing what I mean.

Latest winning photo by Robert L. Sartain in "more than meets the eye" contest in Trains newsletter (contest volume number 335).

First Prize winner Charles Dischinger in 2018 Trains Photo Contest, pages 60-61 of November Trains.

[Euclid]

nhrand

What is it about modern photography that makes some photos appear to be paintings?  Here are two examples from Trains showing what I mean.

Latest winning photo by Robert L. Sartain in "more than meets the eye" contest in Trains newsletter (contest volume number 335).

First Prize winner Charles Dischinger in 2018 Trains Photo Contest, pages 60-61 of November Trains.

 

In Robert Sartain's photo, for instance, in what ways do you consider it to appear to be a painting?

[Semper Vaporo]

I think it is a new "feature" of some cameras... it plays with the contrast and color saturation and that makes the image appear to be an oil painting.  It also seems to limit the color pallette.  Being a "new" feature lots of folk are using it.

[tree68]

I can post process an image to oil, watercolor, and a number of other effects with one program I've got.

Clearly not an option if you're looking for a crisp photo, but handy if you want to turn that striking image into "brush art."

[Euclid]

What is it about this photo that is different than what would be seen by the eye when looking at this scene?

[Semper Vaporo]

Your eye would be sensitive to the bright sky and you would lose detail in the shadow of the car's rear porch overhang.  With the camera you can darken the light areas and lighten the dark areas (contrast compression) to produce a more uniform lighting.  You would also see many more shades of each of the dominate colors. With the camera you can limit the number of shades of the primary colors (color compression).

Take those yellow pinstripes along the top and bottom of the car... in the real world there might be thousands of shades of yellow there (non-uniform pigment fading, color bleed from under the paint, water stains, dirt, etc.), but the camera image may have limited the number of shades to just 100 (or less) individual yellows.

Depending on the level of the application of these things you can produce just subtle enhancements, or a strong visual image.  Sometimes you cannot tell that anything was done, but the image is pleasing to view.

In Sartain's photo, I don't think much color compression was applied and only a small amount of contrast compression was done.  But it has produced a vibrant photo.

[Murphy Siding]

tree68

I can post process an image to oil, watercolor, and a number of other effects with one program I've got.

Clearly not an option if you're looking for a crisp photo, but handy if you want to turn that striking image into "brush art."

 

Is there an option for black velvet?

[zugmann]

Murphy Siding

Is there an option for black velvet?

With that slow southern style?

[tree68]

Murphy Siding

Is there an option for black velvet?

I don't recall (haven't used it in a while), but if there is, you'd want to go in and edit virtually pixel by pixel so the background was all black.

[BaltACD]

tree68

I can post process an image to oil, watercolor, and a number of other effects with one program I've got.

Clearly not an option if you're looking for a crisp photo, but handy if you want to turn that striking image into "brush art."

How about oil paint with a putty knife?

[tree68]

BaltACD

How about oil paint with a putty knife?

That sounds familiar...

[Semper Vaporo]

Or a 4-inch house brush.

[Bruce Kelly]

Charles Dischinger's photo in the November issue is the only one among the contest winners that's described as being shot on slide film. I suspect the "painting" appearance that the o.p. is referring to is probably attributable to whatever consumer- or pro-sumer-grade device was used to scan the slide. (It was clearly not a drum scanner.) Add to that the somewhat large reproduction on paper that is anything but bright white and is almost certainly groundwood, judging by the spots, mottling, and fibers evident in the ink-free areas of the page.

[Euclid]

I know that digital images can be processed to achieve any result imaginable, but going back to the comment by the orginial poster, I do not see much, if anything about the image by Robert Sartain that obviously indicates image manipulation beyond what would appear in an image shot without any manipulation.  There may be some added color saturation and contrast, and perhaps that is what he means by the image looking like an oil painting.  But oil paintings need not have high contrast or extreme color saturation.

[tree68]

BaltACD

How about oil paint with a putty knife?

Oil with a palette knife is actually quite common.  

There was an old style barracks at Vandenberg AFB (building long since demolished) in which one wall of the downstairs hallway appeared as though you were looking at a sunrise, all done in the palette knife style.  If you turned around, the scene was what you would see if you turned your back to the sun.  Amazing work, and both images ran the entire length of the hallway.

Now back to your regular programming.

[nhrand]

Euclid asks what I see in the photos that I described as like a painting.  I don't think I can adequately describe what I "see" but I see a difference that is not in more "traditional" photos.  They seem boosted, intensified, color saturated, more stark and lack some subtlety.  For example, I see a big difference in the Sartain photo and the Jay Bridges NS photo shown next to it.  It is more than lighting or focus. 

[nhrand]

NOT BEING JUDGEMENTAL

I should add that I am not intending to be judgemental in writing that I see a photo "looking like a painting".   I'm only questioning the method.  I am not one to say color is better than black and white, or digital is better than film, etc., etc.  I simply saw a difference and wondered why.